


The Journey To You

by givebackmylifecas



Series: Quote Inspirations [9]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Heaven, Kissing, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Season 13 Castiel/Dean Winchester Reunion, Season/Series 13 Spoilers, Soulmates, but not really, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 21:37:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13510263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/givebackmylifecas/pseuds/givebackmylifecas
Summary: Before Castiel meets Dean, he speaks to God for the first and only time. God offers to show him five moments from his future that will define him, under the condition that Castiel can't change anything.This is basically a Five Moments in Castiel's life with Dean.





	The Journey To You

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by this quote from Jane the Virgin:  
> "How does knowing the ending affect the journey?"
> 
> This is very fluffy and has Destiel as basically inevitable so hopefully no TWs needed but if you spot anything just let me know.

Castiel had already existed for several hundreds of millennia when he was finally called for his first encounter with his Father. He was the last of all the angels, even though he wasn’t the youngest and he had seen all of his brothers and sisters return changed.

He remembered when Gabriel went for his meeting. He hadn’t returned and they had all assumed he had somehow perished, so Castiel really wasn’t sure what to expect.

All he knew from the other angels was that their Father would offer him a choice, something that was different for everyone and he would have to make a decision.

What he didn’t expect when he was finally summoned was to see a small man with a scruffy beard and dark, curly hair sitting in the corner of a grimy bar.

“Father?”, he questioned and the man smiled.

“Castiel. I have waited a long, long time to speak to you.”, God said and Castiel tried not to look directly at him. There was a strange sort of light emanating from his father that made him kind of hazy and hard to focus on.

“And I you, Father.”, Castiel replied.

“I wish I had more time to spend with you, but alas, time is short and so I will simply ask you your question.”, his father tells him and Castiel bows his head in acceptance.

"But first, I am going to offer you something I haven’t offered any of the other angels since Lucifer. You may ask me a question, anything at all, and I will answer.”

Castiel thought for a long time, it might have been an eternity, before he finally settled on a question he knew many of the other angels would want answered.

“Gabriel and Lucifer… What did they ask for?”, Castiel asks quietly and his father laughs.

“You always were a bright one, Castiel. Asking the right questions, although this is technically two questions in one.” Castiel begins to apologise, but his Father stops him. “It is alright, Castiel. I will answer any way. What Lucifer asked, was selfish and cruel and he should have known it would never be what he wanted to hear. Lucifer asked if I loved humans more than I loved him. And then he asked for me to remove them from the Earth.”

God takes a pause before continuing and Castiel knows better than to ask what God’s answer was.

“Gabriel was selfish too, but in a very different way. He asked for nothing more than the freedom to leave Heaven and never have to return. I granted him his wish, and as I am sure you know he has not come back.”

Castiel nods. “Thank you for your honesty, Father.”

“But now, Castiel, it is your turn. Since Gabriel, I have not allowed the angels to simply ask me for anything they want, so I have decided for them, offered them what they are most likely to want. To you, Castiel – always so curious – I give you this choice: You can go back into the past and change a single event in history and see what the world would be now, or you can see the five most important parts of your future until the end of your existence, but not change anything about them. Whatever your decision, it will be final.”

Castiel thinks about the past, the horrors the earth has seen, the pain the humans have inflicted on each other. What good would changing a single event do in the grand scheme of things?

But, does he really want to see his future? See what he will eventually become and how he will die? It doesn't take him very long. He needs to know.

“You have made you choice.”, his father says. It isn’t a question.

“Yes, Father, I have. I would like to see my future.”, Castiel says and his father smiles as if he had been expecting this, but afterall he is God – he probably had.

“Very well, but just so we are clear, even though you will know your future you will not be able to change it. What will be will be and you will not be able to tell anyone else. Understood?”

Castiel nods and a wave of light surges from his father and envelops Castiel.

 

He watches himself battle through Hell, towards the brightest soul he has ever seen. His future-self is more determined than Castiel ever thought he could be.

“This is the first time you see Dean Winchester.”, his father’s voice tells him.

“The righteous man? I am the one who pulls him from Hell?”, Castiel asks, watching his future-self grip the soul tightly.

“Yes.”, his father says. “It is the most important mission you will ever have. It will change the world and it will change you. Irrevocably and irreversibly. It is the moment you begin your Fall.”, his father says and Castiel quivers with fear and shame.

“I fall?”, he asks. “I am sorry, I must do something truly terrible.”

“Love, Castiel, is never a terrible thing.”, his father answers rather cryptically as the scene changes.

 

 _“What you have me do?”_ , his future-self is asking a blond man. He notices that his future-self seems to have acquired a male vessel.

 _“Get me to Sam! Before it’s too late!”,_ the man is begging him.

 _“If I do that we will all be hunted. We will all be killed.”_ , his future-self says and Castiel wonders what is being asked of him.

His father answers his question before he can ask it. “Dean Winchester is asking you to rebel against Heaven, to help prevent the apocalypse.”

“Do I do it?”, Castiel asks and his father takes a long time to answer.

“Yes, Castiel, but it is what I always wanted for you.”

Before Castiel can ask why, the scene changes again.

 

His future-self is still inhabiting the same vessel and once again he is with Dean Winchester. Only this time he is beating the man to a bloody pulp, while clutching a stone tablet.

“What am I doing?”, he asks in horror.

“It isn’t you. Not really. You are being controlled.”, his father explains.

“By whom?”, Castiel asks, afraid of the answer.

“That is a question for another time. Just watch.”

 _“Cas, please. We’re family. We need you. I need you.”,_ Dean Winchester tells his future-self and Castiel watches as future-him drops his blade and reaches out to heal the human.

“Why are you showing me this?”, Castiel asks. He doesn’t understand why this is relevant. Or why Dean Winchester has been in all his future moments so far.

“Because, Castiel, this is the moment you realise you are loved. Not by the heavenly host, your siblings, or by me – but by a human, one human in particular. It is knowledge you will need in the years to come.”

 

The scene has changed. They are outside on a rainy street. His future-self is standing by a telephone booth alone.

“What is this?”, Castiel asks, his courage growing the longer he spends with his father.

His father chuckles at his impatience. “This, Castiel, is the moment you come back from the dead. The moment that will give you the happiness you will have so longed for, the happiness that I have never begrudged you.”

A car engine can be heard in the distance, loudly permeating the silence, headlights slicing through the darkness. Future-him turns towards the car, a huge, black monstrosity.

The car stops in front of future-Castiel and once again Dean Winchester gets out. Castiel wonders whether there are any moments in his future that aren’t inexplicably linked to this human.

Dean Winchester is joined by another, much larger human. “Sam Winchester, Dean’s brother.”, his father helpfully explains.

Dean rushes around the side of the car, taking long strides with his slightly bowed legs, stopping just short of future-Castiel.

Castiel watches Dean staring at future-him, before the human lunges towards his future-self, wrapping him in his arms and desperately kissing him.

Future-Castiel seems to respond enthusiastically, holding Dean’s face between his vessel’s hands and kissing him earnestly with unbridled passion that seems to be affecting Sam Winchester’s lungs as he seems to keep needing to cough.

“Father, I don’t understand. Why –“, Castiel begins, but he is interrupted.

“Hush Castiel, one more glance and then your time is up. You will understand in time.”

 

The scene changes a final time and Castiel is looking at someone’s kitchen. Inside the kitchen, his future-self is slowly dancing with Dean Winchester to an unfamiliar song. The singer says something about being unable to resist falling in love as Dean Winchester slowly pulls future-Castiel into another kiss.

“Where is this? It doesn’t feel like Earth?”, Castiel questions.

“That’s because it’s Heaven.”, his father says quietly. “Your Heaven to be exact.”

Castiel doesn’t understand. “Angels don’t get a Heaven.”

“No, but humans do.”

Castiel feels something inside himself twist. “I’m human?”

“You are.”, his father confirms. “It’s rare but it can happen to angels. It’s even rarer to be able to share your Heaven.”

“Only soulmates can-“, Castiel begins. “I have a soulmate? Him?”

“Him.”, Father agrees. “A rather good choice, if I do say so myself. But now it is time to go.”

“But Father, this doesn’t make sense. All the things I do, rebelling against you, falling and becoming human. You let me do them?”, Castiel asks desperately as the images of his future-self dancing dissolve around him.

“Who do you think made you the way you are, so that you make those choices?” his father’s voice asks, slowly fading into nothing.

                                                                

And then Castiel is back in Heaven, surrounded by his curious siblings who desperately want to know what he experienced, but are too obedient to ask. But Castiel couldn’t tell them anyway, so he ignores them and makes his way to his favourite, peaceful heaven and thinks for a long, long time.

He cannot understand why he will do the things he will do, but he also knows he cannot change them.

 

The first time Castiel, angel of the lord, is asked by Dean Winchester who he is, he wants to tell him all that he knows. Wants to tell him that he is his soulmate, and that one day he will rebel for this human. That he will love Dean so much that mind-control and even death can’t stop him from returning to his human. He wants to tell him how much he will give up and how far he will fall for him, only for them to end up in Heaven together.

But he knows he can’t, that he can’t physically utter the words. So instead Castiel tells Dean that he is the one who gripped him tight and raised him from perdition.

Instead, in the years to come, Castiel will whisper it to Dean as he sleeps, as if the words could protect the human from all the pain and evil in the world.

He’ll press the words into Dean’s skin with each kiss he gives him.

And finally, when their souls are reunited for the last time, in Heaven, Castiel tells Dean about how long he waited to meet him and how wouldn’t have changed anything even if he could have. Because even though he knew the ending, there isn’t any other journey Castiel would have wanted to take.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, tell me if you liked it or even if you thought it was a steaming pile of crap in the Comments or drop me a Kudos. Or come say hi on Tumblr (@hefellfordean), my inbox is always open.


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